


Shelter in Place

by Yuurei



Category: James Bond (Craig movies)
Genre: Don't copy to another site, I Don't Even Know, I give up, I have no idea what this is going to be, I just want my brain to start working again and forget for two minutes about the pandemic, I'm very grumpy about the pandemic, Pandemic it is, Plot? What plot I'm making this up as I go, So naturally I'm writing about Q dealing with the pandemic, Some introspective Q I guess, Two chapters in and this is already getting away from me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:23:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23918242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yuurei/pseuds/Yuurei
Summary: Q during a global pandemic
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Q introspective at work

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey.... so I guess this is gonna be a thing my brain came up with. There's at least a couple chapters, just short things. I have no idea where I'm going with this.  
> Enjoy?

Pandemic. That's word that's making it's rounds. A global pandemic. Government lockdowns and borders closed up tighter than a drum and people panicking not in the streets but hidden behind doors afraid to leave. Shelter in Place they're calling it. Stay home. Stay safe. They say it like a mantra that will save them. 

He looks around at Q-branch, empty but for a handful of scurrying techs in the dead of night, and wonders how many of them will become ill in the coming days even as they studiously wear their masks and avoid each other's space. MI6 opens it's doors to international travel every time an agent comes home. Warning came to late to know to quarantine the earliest arrivals when it started to spread. 

Every agent they bring home now and it is a fight to get every one of them across borders is selfquarantining for 3 weeks, just in case, and receiving drop shipments of groceries on their doorsteps. So far more than half of them have been exposed. 

Most of them are healthy, some of them with injuries aren't doing well. Even those agents who are suffering with stronger cases are refusing to step foot near medical even though full PPE would be provided for the transfer. For once the agents are worried more for the medical staff themselves than they are about dodging medical for the sake of dodging it. They've seen too many sick and dieing making their ways home from all over the world.

Medical has taken to dropping off supplies at agents doorstops standing back a ways and refusing to return to the safety of MI6's recesses until agents have stood at the door for visual inspection and taken the supplies within their homes. It's a standoff that normally the agents would win but their concern for their colleagues being out and about has turned the tables on them. 

Alec, 006, has already made it home. He was one of the first double O's to be grounded once back and his three weeks are almost up. He's been healthy so far as anyone could tell but will be leaving a blood sample on his doorstep for medical before returning to MI6 itself. No chances are being taken.

Some agents have gone to ground sending messages in and hunkering down where they are until travel restrictions lighten up. Some agents have died, sickness catching them unawares and slowing them down in enemy territory. Crime and terrorism don't stop for global chaos. Sometimes it even thrives instead. 

James is still missing. His last mission went dark before the recall order went out to all agents whose missions were not immediately time sensitive. Normally it wouldn't be a concern. Normally 007 going off grid is cause for a sigh and another mouthful of tea. Now is anything but normal. 


	2. Chapter 2

It been almost a month now since Bond went dark. They received independent confirmation from a nearby, relatively speaking, agent that his mission was completed if not with the usual flair he's known for. It's been completed for a little under three weeks now but he hasn't resurfaced on any of Q's usual alerts. 

It doesn't really mean anything. James is well aware Q keeps his own tabs on him aside from the usual ones work requires for double O's and while usually he allows it Q is also well aware that James is _allowing it_ not incapable of avoiding it. Best of the best title isn't given to double O's on a lark. 

He'd forgotten one though or perhaps was truly unaware of it. A simple yes or no system Q had slipped into James's flat on a whim to test out and had never gotten around to removing again. It was nothing incredibly interesting more like a proximity alarm. A simple _am I alone anti-eavesdropping_ sort of thing that proved too unweildy to set up in the field. 

It required a fair bit of premeditation to set up, a greater knowledge of the area's layout and usual traffic to filter out extraneous information made it no more useful than a physical perimeter check would be. For the usual in and out missions it wouldn't do. 

It wasn't connected to any of his alarms though. He'd only checked the software on a whim going through old projects and found an alert dated back almost two weeks. Only one alert, meaning entry but no exit. James Bond has been radio silent in his own flat for almost two weeks. It was hard for Q not to fear the worst.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... *blinks* yah I got nothing.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have half an idea on where to go with this.

There was no noise from within James's flat, not that he expected any given its title occupant. He had hoped perhaps to hear something on approach that would ease his mind. Bond grumbling about nosy boffins approaching without leave would make him smile at this point. Perhaps his phone would ring before he reached the door telling him off for being out and about rather than safe in his pajamas in front of his laptop, working from home obviously being his forte. Nothing though.

He rested his hand lightly against the door, waiting a moment, hoping for something though what he wasn't sure. He knocked then, listening carefully for any rustling behind the door though he doubted there would be anything on a good day.

"007, it's Q I'm coming in. If you shoot at me you'll be doing my paperwork for the coming month and I know how much you love requistions and equipment forms." He dropped to a knee pulling out an automated lockpick and applying it to the door handle. It was hardly a noisy thing but the clicking noise would normally have driven an agent of Bond's caliber to investigate.

The lock clicked open and he pocketed the pick, turning the handle and pushing the door ajar just slightly. "It's me, Bond, you had better not bloody shoot me."

He pushed it open further and it creaked slightly as he slid into the flat. He pushed it closed behind himself absently relocking the door.The air was heavy and stale and he swallowed heavily trying to clear his suddenly dry throat. The silence was eerie. "James? 007, report!" 

There was no response and he moved further into the flat scanning rooms quickly as he went by. The kitchen was clear, a couple used mugs sat by the sink unwashed but not growing fuzz on their contents yet, a good sign time wise. The living room similarly empty with a rumpled blanket draped half off the couch trailing to the floor. Bond's room he knew was at the back of the flat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lied. I have two half ideas. You guys want happy or sad? Or something in between🤔


	4. Chapter 4

The flat was no large house but the hallway to James's room in the back seemed to stretch before him into an impossibly long journey. His feet were weighted down each step reverberating through his body as they hit the floor. The silence was so complete his quiet footsteps felt almost deafening to his ears.

He swallowed dryly. The stale atmosphere scraped at his throat with each breath. He wanted to call out again and the words died before they reached his lips. If he didn't call out, he didn't have to imagine reasons for receiving no response. A flimsy excuse he wasn't willing to give up.

He slowed his already glacial pace as he approached the closed door at the end of the hall. He brushed his hand lightly on the wood. It was a solid door none of that hollow particle board stuff. Only what was heavy enough to be used as a weapon dared to be part of James Bond's flat. He huffed a strangled laugh. He really was stalling now wasn't he to be contemplating the efficacy of doors as weapons. 

He rested his forehead against the door for a moment, a weary sigh parting his lips. He still hadn't heard anything from within the room he approached. There were only so many excuses he could supply himself with as to the reason why that would be. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yah I'm dragging this out. No one told me if they wanted happy or sad or whatever and I haven't decided myself yet. So meh. You get like 200ish words of Q waffling over it. 
> 
> I'm leaning towards happy ending territory I guess but if you really want to see angst I can oblige😈


	5. Happy or Sad

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, you lot are useless in the direction department so I'm making two 'endings'. 
> 
> "Happy" for a given value chapters are going to be one direction split from here and "Sad" chapters will be the other. You'll have to look at chapter titles because I'm just going to post them all here whenever I get them done.

Q straightened up from his slump against the door. He took a breath and sharply forced it out. No more of this prevaricating. He grasped the doorknob and turned it, not yet opening the door. "James, if you shoot me you're getting nothing but a water gun next time I equip you. You won't have to worry about getting sick going out, I'll finish you off myself with a ruddy pile of paperwork!"

He pushed the door inward then bracing himself, for what he wasn't sure. The room was still, no explosive movement from its occupant. The bed was covered in a full pile of rumbled blankets. He approached them cautiously pulling back the outer layers. 

Nothing. The bed was empty but for the pile of blankets. Q's legs felt like jelly beneath him and he sank to the floor in relief and bewilderment. If Bond wasn't here then where was he and why had his system registered some one entering the flat but not leaving?

He felt a shiver down his spine. If James wasn't here to answer his calls was someone else hiding there instead?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **whoops thought I'd put this chapter up already**
> 
> 😄Who here actually thought you'd get you know this chapter whether James was going to be ok or not? Do I seem like the kind of person to give you the easy route out? No, you made it this far now you're going to get every twist I can manage. I'm invested.
> 
> I know. The more reviews I get the less waffling you'll get. *side-eyes zero reviews* I guess you better learn to like cliffhangers🤣  
> 05/22/20


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